Zigz Auto Notes

HOW I FUEL INJECTED MY PONTIAC 400

2008-04-19T14:54:00.056-05:00

What follows is a step by step process of how I fuel injected my '72 Firebird. I decided on the Retrotek Speed Boss EFI 750 CFM system for a few reasons:

1. I could still use my stock intake manifold (which is factory), and if I ever get around to upgrading that stock manifold to an Edelbrock Pontiac Performer manifold, I can still use this fuel injection system.

2. It was half the cost of the Edelbrock Pro-Flo FI system (which is what I was going to get originally before I saw the Retrotek Speed system), a much less than the Mass Flo system for Pontiac and the FAST systems.

3. Ease of installation. For me this was a huge reason. How it worked made sense to me. I wanted it to do two things: eliminate carburetor cold starts, and get rid of a backfire pop I was having with my Demon carburetor when I mashed down on the accelerator pedal from cruise. I could never figure that out. Accelerator pump? Maybe. My Demon in general not being tuned? Maybe. But I felt that the Retrotek Speed system would eliminate my problems and wouldn't be too difficult to install.

Here's how:

The first thing you'll want to do is decide if you're going to get a new gas tank or if you're going to use your existing one. If you're getting a new one, make sure if fits under your car and that it has good ventilation. I decided to use my stock one so that's what I'll cover here.

First, jack up the rear of the car, on both sides. Next, you'll want to disconnect the rubber hoses that are in between the main fuel feed line, the return line, and the evap/emissions lines. You'll find these if you crouch beside the passenger side rear wheel, and look through to the other rear wheel:

Get the hose clamps off or really loosened first. To do this I used a 1/4 inch little socket with a Craftsman driver that has a black handle:

You can also get the hose clamps with flathead screwdriver if you prefer.

To get the rubber hose parts off, I used an Exacto knife. Make sure the blade is new or really sharp, and be VERY careful. Just score along the side of the rubber, and keep scoring, and then you'll be able to peel it off with your hands. Do the same for the driver's side. Next, I got a 9/16 deep socket for the taillight side fuel tank strap nuts:

Be patient with these if these are the original nuts They can be a pain but just keep working on them and they'll come out. My buddy Crazy Carl loosened them for me and he did it so fast I didn't have time to properly set up the camera, so, sorry about the above two pics being blurry! We did manage to get a good pic though in the end. :)

Now before you take out that last nut, either have a jack with a wide piece of wood under the fuel tank to support it so it doesn't fall, or lie on your back underneath the car with a buddy on his back right next to you, with both your arms supporting the tank when the last bolt comes out. Even though I did it the latter way, I don't recommend it. Its physically awkward working the tank out that way. Take your time and be safe.

After the last nut is out and the tank is loose but supported, you can slide the fuel tank straps down the threaded bolts. The tank will start to lower. Just keep working it out, and be mindful of any connections you may have missed, AND the fuel gauge ground and cinder wires that are on top of the fuel tank. Eventually you'll have it all the way out:

Next I had to drain the fuel out of the tank. I got a good size CLEAR (so you can see the fuel) hose from Ace Hardware. Then Carl and I set the fuel tank at a higher level; we just propped it up on my trash can.

Then I made a diagram of how I was going to drain the fuel out of the tank:

And then I just went by my diagram, and sucked through the hose until I saw the gasoline start to come out. Then I just put the hose into a gas container:

Next I removed the fuel sending unit so that I could replace the fuel sending unit filter sock. The way you remove the fuel sending unit is to have you and a buddy set screwdrivers on the fuel sending unit "tabs" and hammer on the ends of the screwdrivers so that the fuel sending unit moves counter-clockwise:

After a few hammer hits, you’ll be able to pull out the fuel sending unit and see your existing filter sock:

To remove the sock, just pull it off (you might have to twist a little while you pull, or pull with some force):

I ordered a replacement sock from Ames Performance. It was the 3/8” one, FM327, and it was $22 (including shipping). To install it, just push it back on; you might have to twist it a little while you push. Don’t put the fuel sending unit back in the tank just yet though if you have to clean the tank out. I had to clean mine out, and used mineral spirits from Bering’s Hardware store to do it:

Make sure all the gas is out of the tank. Wait a few days for the remaining gas in there to evaporate. Then put in your mineral spirits, and, with a friend, keep tilting the gas tank so the mineral spirits liquid slowly swishes all around the tank, including all the corners. Then pour it out. Then add some more mineral spirits and repeat. We did this three or four times, and then poured it all out, and waited a few days to a week so that it was all evaporated. After that, we installed the fuel sending unit back into the tank.

Next it was time to put the adapter connection on the main hard tube fuel line coming from the fuel sending unit. I liked the look of stainless steel braided fuel line and always wanted to use it, so I went to Summit Racing’s website and got some, along with some other fittings I would need. The part number for the braided line I got, a -6 AN (AN stands for Army/Navy, and is a style of measurement) line, is SUM-230620, AND WAS $74. I also got 5 of these fittings: Summit part number 800106ERL ($6.25) and some assembly lube: EAR-184004ERL ($6.50). I also got this hose cutter from Summit, so that cutting the braided hose would be easy: SUM-900040, $36. Then I bought the Koul Tool, which is specifically designed to make installing stainless steel hose into AN fittings an easy job. The tool is AWESOME, and makes installing braided line actually fun.

So the adapter fitting I needed would adapt this main fuel hard line:

to the stainless steel braided hose. Thanks to a good group of guys on the Performance Years forum, they informed me that the adapter fitting I needed was Summit part number SUM-2200077 ($8).

I decided I would need some AN wrenches too, so I got two of these -6 AN wrenches from Summit, pn SUM-900106 ($10 each):

And then I got two adjustable wrenches ($45 each) from the local speed shop Texas Performance:

Now in order for the Summit adapter fitting to fit onto the hard fuel line, you’ll have to cut off the flare:

To do this, you just use a tube cutter. I got mine from Sears Hardware:

To use it, just clamp it a little around the tube, and go around and around the tube, scoring it, then tightening it, scoring it some more, until the piece just cuts off:

Then you can file/deburr the hole with a file to smooth it out some. I used this one from Sears:

Then you take the red AN fitting, and the brass ferrule, and slide them onto the end of the main hard fuel line you just cut and deburred:

Then seat the hard tube into the blue fitting, and as it's seated, move the red fitting down into the blue fitting, and screw it down all the way, tight:

Now it's time to start plumbing the fuel system. Retrotekspeed says that for cars making less than 500 horsepower, you can run a returnless system. That's what I chose to do, and I made a diagram of how the fuel system should be plumbed:

Notice the pre-filter AND the post filter (they are the same part number). I got them from Summit, and checked with Retrotek to see if they would work. Retrotek confirmed that they would, so I got two. It's pn 230101 if you want blue ones like I got, or pn 230100 if you want red ones. They're $27 each.

Now to actually make some of the connections in my fuel system, I hard to learn how to put AN fittings onto stainless steel braided hose. Here's how I did it:

Make sure you measure what lengths of line you need to have in between all of the fittings. When you're ready to start actually cutting (and applying fittings), take the braided hose and wrap some duct tape around an end of the braided line:

Before you cut into the braided line, put the red part from this fitting:

inside of the Koul Tool:

Then put the two pieces of the Koul Tool together, and put the Koul Tool in a vise:

Then have someone hold the braided line, while you use the Summit cutting tool. Position the tool so that it will cut in the middle of the duct tape wrap, and cut:

Then unwrap the duct tape on the line, and very quickly insert it, twisting as you go, all the way into the Koul Tool in your vise:

If you want to check how far you've inserted the braided line into the red fitting, just remove the Koul Tool from the vise, open it, and look down into the red fitting. The edge of the hose should come up to around this ridge:

When you're done it should look like this:

To attach the blue part that goes with the red part that is now on the hose, put the red part of the hose into a vise, with the hose going to the floor. Put some of the Earl's Assembly Lube on the blue part's threads, and use a combination of pushing down (by hand) and screwing the red and blue part together with AN wrenches and the vise:

After putting the braided lines and fittings together, I had to decide where to mount the fuel pump and my two filters, the pre-filter and the post-filter.

The Retrotekspeed installation manual says to put the fuel tank at or below the pump. I went to Ace Hardware and got these self-tapping screws to mount the fuel pump's brackets:

And here's where I decided to mount the fuel pump (notice the side of the car):

We noticed that the holes on the brackets were not the same size. On each bracket (there are two of them as you can see in the above pic), one hole is smaller and one is bigger. In order for my self-tapping screws to go into both holes, I had to use a drill to enlarge the smaller hole some. By the way, with self-tapping screws you DON'T have to drill a hole for the screw. Just press the tip hard into the metal and start screwing while you're pressing hard.

Now that the fuel pump was mounted, I had to come up with a way to make brackets for the fuel filters so I could mount those to the car too. I went to Ace Hardware and got metal cutter scissors, Red Rubber Sheet Packing, and some Galvanized Steel Hanger Strap:

With some regular scissors (not the metal cutters), I cut a strip of the red rubber, and with the metal cutter scissors I cut a strip of the steel hanger strap. I wrapped them both around the fuel filter(s), and stuck a self-tapping screw through both of them:

Here are two different camera angles of where I mounted the pre-filter:

And here is a pic of where I mounted the post-filter:

Then, just connect all your fittings and braided line from the fuel sending unit to the engine bay, and don't forget to use Earl's Assembly Lube on threads. To connect the braided line to the fuel pump's nozzles I just used a hose clamp on the inlet side, and for the outlet side, my buddy BigAss Blake wrapped the base up in a ton of electrical tape because of the positive and negative electrical connections, before putting on the hose clamp. To run the braided line along the length of the car, I just zip-tied it to the original main fuel hard line. Here are some pics of the plumbing:

Now you can block off the original fuel tank and return ports not being used. I used this epoxy from Ace Hardware:

To use it, just tear some off and knead it together like dough until it changes to a darker color. Then just apply it to what you want to seal up. If your epoxy is different, just read the instructions to make sure.

I put my epoxy on some fuel hose pieces I cut (3/8" for the main line, and 1/4" for the others), waited for the epoxy to dry, and slid the hose onto the hard lines and secured them with hose clamps:

Next up was removing the mechanical fuel pump. I had to use a 5/8 open ended wrench for the hard line:

Note that when you do this some fuel will most likely spill out. For the fuel pump bracket bolts, you need to use a combination of 1/2" sockets and 1/2" and 1/4" ratchets with extensions because the firewall-side bolt is in a pretty tight spot. just keep working at it though and it will eventually come out.

To replace the mechanical fuel pump, I got this blockoff plate from Kauffman Racing:

To install it, use the Ultra Black silicone and run a 1/8" bead on the block only, no gasket, and use brand new bolts (I got mine from Ace):

Next I had to pull one of my headers so that I could get an O2 bung welded on to it. The first thing I had to do was measure and mark where the O2 sensor would go. Its best if its standing upright, 3 to 6 inches from where the primaries meet. I decided this was a good spot:

I marked it with tape and marker and made sure I knew where to mark it (quadruple checked). Now before I could get it out, I had to remove the oil filter bracket. There are 3 bolts that hold it on and I had to use a 14mm socket. Once that was out, I unbolted the header at the collector and then unbolted the 4 header bolts from the head (these bolts were 3/8" on mine).

Once it came out, I went to a speed shop with the Retrotekspeed O2 sensor they included in the kit, and got an O2 bung. I took the sensor along to make sure it screwed in without any problems. Then I marked where I wanted the O2 bung to be for the welder, so he would know exactly where to put it:

Carl's brother works at Midas and welds O2 bungs all the time so I just gave my header and my O2 bung to Carl. Two days later, I've got a header with a welded O2 bung in it!

Before I bolted the header back on, I went to NAPA Auto Parts and got some 10W-30 Royal Purple oil, some Peak 50/50 anti-freeze, and an oil filter:

I then bolted the oil filter bracket back on (with new bolts from Ace, of course), put the oil filter on, and bolted the header back on, using a new collector gasket, and this header gasket and Ultra Copper sealant (for the sealant, just put a bead all around the gasket ports):

Then it was time to make a hole in the firewall. To do this I used a 2 inch hole saw, and here are the two things I had to get from Home Depot:

Here’s how they go together:

Pull back the carpet with your bare hands to expose the sheetmetal, and you’re ready to drill. When you drill, keep a steady hand, and gradually push it through the sheetmetal so that the teeth keeps scoring the sheetmetal as it rotates. Eventually, you’ll make it all the way through.

I got a SealsIt grommet from Summit, which is Summit pn GS1003-20 ($18). Honestly that one was a little too big and I should have gotten a smaller one. Oh well, it’s my first time doing this stuff so of course I’ll make mistakes.

Next, just position the grommet and use self-tapping screws to secure it.

Now you can rotate the wiring harness. Connect the wiring harness to the pretty blue Retrotekspeed ECM and get in the car. Just route each sensor wire through the grommet one at a time while a friend pulls them up from the engine bay.

Set the sensors aside in the engine bay and you can now unbolt your carburetor so that the throttle body can replace it. I’m going to go through the steps of removing a carburetor in case it will help anyone.

Before unbolting the carburetor, you first need to disconnect the fuel line going to it and label every vacuum line (masking tape and a Sharpie marker are great for this). I used a screwdriver and a hammer to wedge the screwdriver into the fuel hose connected to my Demon carburetor:

This REALLY helped in getting the hoses off. My buddy Liz taught me that. :) I used rags to catch fuel that would spill out also. Next, put your hand around the black throttle cable sheath, indicated by the arrow in the pic below:

and pull on it, hard, away from the carburetor. It will pop off of it’s ball joint:

Then use a ratchet, an extension, and a socket to unbolt the four bolts at each corner if necessary:

Then, simply lift up and the carb will come right off!:

I covered the open intake with a trash bag until I got around to installing the throttle body:

to keep debris from falling into it.

I wanted to replace my Quadrajet to 4150 adapter plate and just used a 7/32 Allen wrench to get the adapter plate bolts out:

I had to get to get a new ball joint for the black throttle cable sheath because the one from my Demon was too big to fit through the primary throttle lever. I got this kit from Summit since it was only $11: part number Holley 20-2. It was perfect. With new gaskets and the adapter plate on, just slide the Retrotekspeed throttle body onto the bolts, and secure it with four nuts:

Now you can finish routing the rest of the stainless steel braided fuel line (please excuse the ghetto zip ties):

Now you can connect all of the sensors. The Retrotekspeed Instruction Manual is very good instructing you on this, and it was really easy, but I’m going to add some additional info in case it might make it easier for someone. Regarding the coolant temp sensor, you might need this part from the NAPA Auto Parts store:

You can put it into the passenger side head where the old coolant temp sensor was, if you want (that’s what I did). You will also need to use Blue Loctite Threadlocker 246. This was really hard to find. I finally found some from this company: http://www.rshughes.com. They had an office in Houston that had it in stock so I was in luck. My bottle was $50 (50 ml).

For the O2 module, I made a ghetto bracket using some parts from ACE hardware and Home Depot. The parts I got from ACE were a mirror siding and some tiny screws, and the part I got from Home Depot was a C-bar, which Crazy Carl made into an L-bar with an angle grinder. Before making the bracket, Carl used a block of wood to screw the parts against for proper measurement. Then we put the parts together and secured it to the car’s sheetmetal using self-tapping screws:

Next up was the wiring, which were only three wires! These three wires are the ignition wire, the positive fuel pump wire, and the negative fuel pump wire. Regarding the ignition wire, Retrotekspeed’s Installation Manual says that it will be labeled KEY POS. Mine wasn’t. Mine was labeled IGNITION I think (or something like that). What I did was I put a female spade connector on the end of it, and stuck it into the terminal labeled IGN. on the fuse block:

For the positive and negative battery terminals, just put those wires on the fuel pump terminals that are labeled with a plus and a minus sign. They’re on the white part and can be hard to see at first glance so here’s a pic (nevermind the white arrow pointing to the nozzle, I was using that to ask someone a question):

Next I did an oil change and a coolant change with the oil, oil filter, and coolant I got from NAPA earlier.

Now it was time to hook up the laptop to the ECM, install the Retrotekspeed software from their CD, and load a fuel maps profile:

Retrotekspeed’s manual explains how to enter in some information about your engine to load a fuel maps profile. The fuel map I used for my Pontiac 400 was RTG102-8cylHEI_NA_475tq_300tf_Performance.rgf. Once that’s done, turn the ignition key to the on position and let the fuel pump do it’s thing for a few seconds. Once you hear it whine down, start your engine! Congratulations, you’ve just converted to fuel injection. Check for leaks, and have fun!

Issues I had along the way:

Despite the embarrassment, I’ll share how I did some things wrong, and some other issues I had converting to this fuel injection system.

1. It was my first time using a tube cutter, and I just pressed the blade into the metal really hard. That was totally WRONG:

2. I DID NOT PROPERLY VENT MY TANK. I plugged up all those open ports with epoxy, remember? BIG OOPS. Retrotek told me to use the old return line I had and run a hose (I think I used a 1/4 “ hose for this) from it to above the tank to outside air. This seems to help so far.

3. The Retrotek fuel injection system is a 1:1 system, NOT a progressive linkage system. This means that when the primary throttle blades open, the secondaries need to open at the same time (as opposed to the secondaries opening later, when the engine needs extra fuel for more power). I had to get this Holley linkage from Summit Racing, part number HLY-20-122. Retrotekspeed says that they will include this style of linkage in their kits in the very near future.

4. UPGRADE NOT ONLY THE ALTERNATOR, BUT THE ALTERNATOR WIRING ALSO. I upgraded my 60 amp AC Delco alternator to a 140 amp one, but I used the stock alternator wiring. The BATT. TERMINAL wire (that goes from the back of the alternator) burned up and I had to solder connect a new, bigger wire, and I had to run a huge 2 gauge battery wire between the alternator and the battery:

I will show you how to uninstall and reinstall the alternator in a later post.

5. Leaks. I had three leaks (from AN fittings) at the back of the car near the tank, one of which was the compression fitting. My buds Hercules Hodges and Bigass Blake tightened them up for me since I was on medical leave at the time. The third leak was here:

Just tighten that with an adjustable AN wrench and it should be OK.

6. The secondary throttle return spring needed to be tightened. The gurus at the Pro-touring forums helped figure this one out (thanks again, guys). The secondaries didn’t come down to idle, so my better half and I grabbed some wrenches and pliers and tightened it, wrapping the end of the spring wire around black rod. We were able to wrap it around the black rod not once, but TWICE:

7. Bolt and wingnut for the air cleaner. I couldn’t use the air cleaner bolt I had for the Demon because it was too big. I went to ACE Hardware and got a 14-20 bolt, a wingnut that fit it, and a washer. When I got home, I just measured the length the bolt needed to be (if it’s too long the hood won’t shut), marked it with a Sharpie, and used an angle grinder with a cutoff wheel to cut it. I just went slow with the tool, scoring down the bolt, until it cut in two:

Well, that’s it so far! Drive the car around or have someone else drive it and see if you can tune it by changing the AF Target numbers on the laptop and Retrotekspeed’s software (refer to the manual for the specifics on how to do this). The system will adjust itself and supposedly even recognizes your driving style after a while.

As a final note, I want to comment on the great customer service Retrotekspeed has given me. I called them a ton and even though they were busy, Mark, Cody, and the rest of the team were all really cool to talk to, extremely helpful and patient, and had positive attitudes. This type of service is becoming more rare these days and I believe in giving credit where credit is due.

The Retrotekspeed system has been doing well. I drove the car out of town, and in Houston rush hour traffic, and it was great! And that's without the car even being tuned (just running off of the base profile)! It will be a lot of fun tuning it and getting the car the way I want. I'm also going to run a return line soon.

If anyone who reads this has any questions or comments, feel free to send me an email at zigzautonotes [at] gmail [dot] com, or just hit me up on the forums. :)

Next up, be on the lookout for blog posts on upgrading a fourth gen v6 Camaro (my college car) to an LS1 v8!

LS1 - Intro

2007-09-21T23:57:00.000-05:00

My LS1 v8 engine came in a few nights ago. It will replace the v6 that's in the Camaro now. It'll be a lot of work, but I'll learn a ton and I know I'll have a blast building a muscle car.

I'm going to section each part of the build as separate posts so that things will be clearer. I'm doing things carefully and step-by-step, so that's how the LS1 blog posts will be.

It's all about learning so I hope you guys learn a few things while I go through the process of building a car. :)

LS1 - Part 1: Getting the engine onto an engine stand

2007-09-20T22:58:00.000-05:00

The motor came off of a truck and was sitting on a shallow crate.

I could have worked on it from there, but it would be easier to work with it on an engine stand. I bought one from Advance Auto Parts for about $40.

My good buddy Carl had an engine hoist so that we could lift the motor onto the engine stand.

To lift a motor by a hoist, the first thing you need to do is find the screw holes on the outside of the heads as indicated in the pics. The bolts I used were 3/8 course thread and I got them at Ace Hardware. You want to get Grade 8 bolts. The engine hoist chain will go through this bolt, and one cattycorner on the other side of the motor.

Then you put one of the chain links through the bolt, and then do it on the other side. Keep in mind though, that the stress of the chain up against the valve cover or head when it's hoisted into the air might scratch the valve cover/head. So it's a good idea to have a rag or towel in between the chain and the metal it would scratch, to protect the valve cover/head surface.

Then make sure that the chain is fastened securely. Here we used a Grade 8 bolt and nut (3/8" inch again).

The next step is to hoist the engine up into the air. On Carl's engine hoist, there was a lever you jacked up and down to lift it, and a dial that rotated to let the engine back down gently.

The next step is to attach the engine stand onto the motor. The engine stand comes in two parts really - one part is the part that bolts to the back of the engine, and the other part is the stand. In the pic below you'll see the first part being bolted to the back of the motor, with bolts going through bolt holes where the transmission would bolt to. The bolts going into the motor (the ones that have arrows pointing to them in the pic below) should screw in about half an inch to an inch into the motor. Notice we used washers and nuts to give it more stability:

Make sure the bolt connections are really secure. Here I'm using two wrenches to tighten all the bolts:

The next thing to do is to attach the second part of the engine stand, the stand part. Slide it onto the first part of the engine stand attached to the motor, and be sure to stick in the engine stand pin (indicated by the arrow in the pic below):

Then you just lower the engine hoist so that the stand rests on the ground. Here you can see me using a pair of pliers to turn the dial on the engine hoist to lower it:

And now that the stand is on ground, the engine will be stomach to chest height, so it will be much easier to work on!

Now the teardown begins, so the next part will be about removing the throttle body.

FUEL INJECTION CONVERSION FOR 1972 FIREBIRD

2007-09-20T21:39:00.000-05:00

While the engine work is being done to the LS1, I have several weeks to kill, and so now is an excellent time to work some on the 72 Firebird I have.

My very first post was about carburetion. Things change.

I just couldn't deal with all of the tiny little mechanical parts in a carburetor. Fuel injection makes more sense to me. The computer figures out your air/fuel ratio, and adjusts accordingly, and does so a LOT faster than someone tuning a carburetor by hand.

So I ordered a fuel injection system and it just came in the mail. It's the BossEFI system by Retrotekspeed. It looks BEAUTIFUL and I will be sure to document the conversion.

Note the cover of the manual in one of the pics below – it has a really good illustration of how the fuel flows to the throttle body, through the injectors, and down into the intake.

Enjoy the pics!

LS1 - Part 2: Throttle Body Removal

2007-09-19T22:34:00.000-05:00

The first part of the motor I wanted to bolt off was the throttle body. I figured it wouldn't be very hard to do, and would get my confidence rolling for the rest of the motor. The removal was very easy to do. Here's what the throttle body looks like:

I needed a socket set that was tougher and more diverse than my beginner socket set, so I went to Sears Hardware and got this for about $100:

The throttle body was held on by three bolts:

I went through the socket set and tried different sockets to see which one would fit. The one that fit was 10mm.

After unbolting the last bolt, the throttle body came right off. Next thing to come off will be the intake plenum.

LS1 - Part 3: Intake Plenum Removal

2007-09-18T23:16:00.000-05:00

To remove the intake plenum, use your 10mm socket to remove the bolts along the sides of the fuel rails that hold it down, indicated by the red arrows in the pic below. Use the 10mm socket for the bolts indicated by the fingers in the pic below too.

Once those are unbolted, just lift the intake plenum right off:

Once the intake plenum is off, this is what you will see:

Pop off the black circular pads that are in the center of the intake valley plate, and you'll see the knock sensors in there.

You'll see that the sensors are held on by a clip (as indicated by the white arrow in the first pic below). Just pull them forward a little and off with your fingers.

Remove the assembly the knock sensors and the black caps are a part of and move them out of the way. Now if you look down into each of the knock sensor holes, you'll find a big bolt in each hole.

These bolts are holding down the intake valley plate. To unbolt them, I had to go to Sears Hardware and get a 12 point 22mm socket. It cost about $13. Then I unbolted them:

After that I thought the intake valley plate would be attached by a gasket or some sealant, so I grabbed my gasket scraper, which I got from Goodson for $7. You can see the part number on the plastic bag in the pic below.

I just stuck it in between the plate and jimmied it around to get the plate off.

Once it was detached, I just lifted the plate right off.

You can now see the camshaft. :) Next I'll talk about how to remove the coil pack assemblies and the valve covers.

LS1 - Part 4: Coil Pack Assemblies and Valve Covers Removal

2007-09-17T22:43:00.000-05:00

To remove the coil pack assemblies, use a 10mm socket to unscrew the screws that are holding it down to the valve cover (circled in red in the pic below). You do NOT have to remove the other screws (circled in white in the pic below). these hold the individual coil packs to the assembly.

Set the coil packs aside and label them "PASSENGER SIDE" or "DRIVER SIDE." Then remove the four screws holding down a valve cover with an 8mm socket:

Then just pull the valve cover right off, and do the same for the other side. Label these "DRIVER SIDE" and "PASSENGER SIDE" accordingly also. When those are off, you will see the rocker arms, the pushrods, and the valve springs. This is what they look like:

Next I'll talk about removing the rocker arms and pushrods.

LS1 - Part 5: Rocker Arms and Pushrods Removal

2007-09-16T23:07:00.000-05:00

Before you remove the rocker arms and pushrods, make sure you have a good rocker arm/pushrod/valvetrain organizer. You can see the one I got from Goodson in the pic below. The item number is VTO-80.

A word of caution before you begin: be very organized and careful; when you put the rocker arms and pushrods in the organizer tray, make sure they match up to where you removed them. If you don't, you risk damage to the motor when you reinstall them.

Remove the rocker arms with an 8mm socket and put them into the tray:

After the rocker arms are out, you will see the pushrods, indicated by red arrows in the pic below:

Here is what the tray will look like when you're done:

My pushrods had information on them:

My buddy Carl said that according to the info written on my pushrods, I've got really good pushrods that are very strong. Cool. :)

Next I'll talk about removing the water pump and the oil dipstick.

LS1 - Part 6: Water Pump and Oil Dipstick Removal

2007-09-15T23:26:00.000-05:00

All I needed to do to remove the water pump was to use a 10mm socket on these bolts:

After those bolts were removed, I just pulled it right off:

Be careful when you pull it off though, you might drop one of these:

Those are water pump gaskets. There's one on each side, so be sure to label them correctly and remember how they go on.

To remove the oil dipstick, first remove the oil dipstick bracket bolt:

Then, just pull the dipstick tube straight up and out.

Next I'll talk about removing the heads.

LS1 - Part 7: Heads Removal

2007-09-14T19:36:00.000-05:00

Below is a pic of the heads and the bolts I had to take off to get the head off of the engine. The top bolts (circled in red) were 10mm bolts and the middle bolts (in green) were 15mm bolts. The things the red arrows are pointing at are spark plugs.

Before I started removing the bolts, I took the spark plugs off. I used this tool, which is a 5/8 socket, but a special 5/8 just for spark plugs. You'll see that it says FOR SPARK PLUG USE ONLY on it:

To remove the middle bolts, I had to use an extension along with the 15mm socket:

Once all the bolts are removed, just find some openings on each end of the head and pull it off:

Be careful, they might be heavy. Mine are aluminum heads so they're not heavy at all, but cast iron heads are pretty heavy.

So here's where I'm at with the motor:

Next I'll talk about removing the harmonic balancer.

LS1 - Part 8: Harmonic Balancer Removal

2007-09-12T20:28:00.000-05:00

Ok, this was a bit tricky. I also forgot to take some pics so I had to use some old pics, but hopefully you guys will get it.

In order to remove the harmonic balancer, I had to remove this bolt:

That bolt is on there so tight that you will need an air compressor and an air ratchet gun to get it off. My buddy Crazy Cool Carl came over with his air compressor:

I think this was a 3 and a half horsepower air compressor that he got at Harbor Freight. We plugged it into an extension cord, let it run til it was "warmed up." It was pretty loud warming up. When the loud noise stops, that's when you know it's done warming up. We then hooked up an air ratchet gun to it. The crankshaft pulley bolt is a 15/16 bolt, so we put a 15/16 socket on the end of the air ratchet gun. Carl put the gun/socket on the bolt and pulled the trigger, and it came off in a second. AWESOME.

Then we had to get one of these harmonic balancer removal kits:

We went to Advance Auto because they have a "tool borrow policy" where you pay for the tool, but if you bring it back the next day, they refund you 100% of the money. Great for when you only need to use a specific tool occasionally.

You'll notice in the kit that it has a few parts — some bolts, some nuts, a "crow's foot," a pushrod or two, and a clamp bracket thing. In the first pic below you can see that in one end of the crow's foot, we put in one of the pushrods (indicated by the red arrow), and in the other end, we screwed in the nut and bolt (indicated by the white arrow). We also had to stick in a pretty long bolt into the end of the crank so that the pushrod had something to push against (this is shown the second pic below. You'll notice that the harmonic balancer is already off in this pic. This is so you can see this step easier.)

Now what we had to do is get the end of the pushrod to butt up against the bolt in the second pic above, take the three claws of the crow's foot and make them grab onto the three prongs of the harmonic balancer:

Once they're grabbed on, attach a 3/4 inch socket and a socket wrench to the crow's foot:

Turn it slowly but steadily. The crow's foot will start to pull the harmonic balancer off! You will know it's working when you start seeing this stripe of metal:

Just keep turning and turning, and it will eventually come off:

Next I will talk about removing the oil pan.

LS1 - Part 9: Oil Pan Removal

2007-09-11T18:48:00.000-05:00

The first thing we did in removing the oil pan was removing the oil filter. Make sure the motor is upside-down, and then all you do is stab it with a screwdriver (be careful with oil spilling out of it), and using the screwdriver as a lever to turn the oil filter counterclockwise. It just screws off.

Next, with a 10mm socket, remove all of the bolts that go all the way around the oil pan. These are circled in green in the pic below. The bolt that's circled in white in the pic below does NOT need to be removed in order to remove the oil pan, so i just left that on.

Now just yank it off. You might have to squeeze a gasket scraper in between the oil pan and the block to help pry it off. There also might be an oil pan gasket in between the oil pan and the block. Once you get the oil pan and gasket off, you will be able to see the oil deflector and the oil pump screen:

I removed the oil pump screen first. Just use a 10mm socket on the bolts circled in white in the pic above, and it will come right off. Then just use the 10mm socket on the bolts going all the way around the oil deflector, circled in green in the pic above. Once you get the oil deflector off, you'll now be able to get a good look at the crankshaft and piston connecting rods:

We'll now be able to pull the pistons out soon. But first, we're going to remove the camshaft, which is what I'll be talking about next.

LS1 - Part 10: Camshaft Removal

2007-09-10T20:48:00.000-05:00

Before you remove the camshaft, you'll want to take out the lifter valley pans:

I didn't use any tools to take the lifter valley pans out; I just used my hands. After you take the lifter valley pans out, you'll be able to see the lifters (one shown in the pic below):

I just used my hands to pull these lifters too, even though they were really slippery. If they're hard to get out, you might be able to get them out with a lifter pick removal tool, or a dentist's pick that's in an L-shape. I hear those work pretty well for this. When you take the lifters out, you can just put them in the organizer tray you used to take out the rockers and the pushrods:

Now go to the front of the engine and remove these three bolts with a 10mm socket:

Now you can pull off the timing gear and the timing chain. Then you'll be able to see four bolts holding in the camshaft thrust plate. Take out these four bolts with your 10mm socket:

Put the plate aside. Now what you're going to do is take the timing gear you just pulled off and bolt it back on to the end of the camshaft, with three of the 10mm bolts you just removed going into these three holes:

Now, using the timing gear as a base, AS STRAIGHT AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN, pull the camshaft out very carefully, and try not to bang it around as you pull it out:

Here's what it will look like when you pull it out:

Pat yourself on the back if you've never pulled out a camshaft before. It's truly a defining moment for a gearhead. :)

Now that the cam's out, we can get started on removing the pistons and the crankshaft, which I'll talk about next.

LS1 - Part 11: Pistons and Crankshaft Removal

2007-09-09T15:15:00.000-05:00

Turn your engine upside-down. We finally get to remove the pistons and crankshaft! We'll remove the pistons first. Before we do that though, we're going to mark the pistons numerically with a metal stamp set:

Now there are two places you will mark each piston assembly: at the base of the connecting rod, and on the rod cap. You will see a horizontal line connecting the two. You will stamp one number above that line, and one number below that line. That way you will have one number stamped on the base of the connecting rod, and one number stamped on the rod cap. I didn't get a chance to take a pic of this on my LS1, but I did manage to create an example, shown below, from one of my hot rod magazines:

Now even though the above pic is from a different engine, what you'll be looking at on the LS1 will be very similar. Also note in the above pic that they have the number 4 stamped on both the rod cap and the connecting rod.

Now how do you know which piston gets what number? Refer to the GM Service Manual of your engine year (in my case, 1998), or a Haynes manual, and you will see the firing order, which will tell you what cylinder number goes to what cylinder, and that's how you know which number to stamp on what piston rod and cap.

Now to stamp it, just press the numbered end of the stamp against the metal, and strike the end of it with a hammer. I sucked at this. You have to hit it pretty damn hard to make a dent. It's tricky when you don't want to smash your fingers:

Now you need to grab your 9mm socket (along with some muscle) to unbolt the bolts that hold the rod cap(s) and connecting rod(s) together, circled in red in the pic below:

Now you can remove the rod caps and get the pistons out. Be careful to not let the piston(s) slide out and fall onto the floor when you remove a rod cap. Get a friend to put his or her hands underneath the cylinder the piston could fall out of. The hands will serve as a good safety net while the piston scoots its way out of the cylinder.

To get the piston out after you've removed its rod cap and rod bolts from the connecting rod, you get a dowel rod or a breaker bar and set the flat end of the dowel rod/breaker bar on the outer edge of the piston slug. You'll see what I mean when you put the dowel rod/breaker bar down the cylinder and look down the cylinder at the bottom of the piston. You don't want the dowel rod/breaker bar to push the against the body center of the piston. It's better to push against the outer edge of the piston that's got some thickness to it. Here's a picture of my buddy Carl getting a piston out on the LS1:

Notice in the pic above that Carl is pushing with his breaker bar tool, and cupping his other hand underneath the cylinder to catch the piston in case it falls out quickly. I would have helped, but I was too busy taking a picture. ;)

The video below is a great example of how to remove the pistons from a v8 engine. It shows you EXACTLY where to place the dowel rod/breaker bar to push the piston out (in case my description is a little unclear), and is very easy to follow:

When you have all of the pistons out, you should have something that looks like this:

To remove the crankshaft, you first have to unbolt all the main caps. You will use a 15mm socket (use a 15mm deep socket if you have to) on the bolts indicated by green arrows in the pic below, and you will use a 13mm socket on the bolts indicated by white arrows:

In addition to those, there will be main bolts going into the sides of the mains through the block. Be sure to remove those. Then you'll just pull off the main caps (except for the last one at the rear of the engine because you have remove the engine backing plate to get the last main out, which I will soon explain how to do). Make sure to keep them in order in a shallow cardboard box or something similar as you take them off. If they're hard to get off, tap them with a hammer on their sides to try and loosen them some, but be careful not to damage them. Then just pull them off with your hands:

Now to remove the last main, you have to remove the backing plate at the rear of the engine. This is where small hands come in....well....handy, because the space in between the backing plate and the engine stand is minimal. Get one of those small hands a socket wrench with a 10mm socket and undo these bolts:

Once all the bolts were out, the backing plate came off pretty easily. Now just bang on the sides of the last main if you have to loosen it some, and wiggle and work it upward with your hands, and it will come out eventually:

Now all that's left to do is pull the crankshaft! Get a really good grip on it, it's a little heavy and slippery with oil. Once you've got a good grip, just pull it off:

Removing the crank will REALLY make you feel like a gearhead.

Now just remove the main journals, and you're all done:

Now the teardown is complete. Well, unless you have engine mounts on the side. If you do, then no big deal, you'll be able to unbolt those without any problems if you've gotten this far!

And just for kicks, I thought I'd include a video that very clearly shows you how the crankshaft, pistons, lifters, pushrods, rocker arms, valves, and camshaft all work together. It's a very clean animation and props to whoever made it. Enjoy:

LS1 - Part 12: The Engine Shop

2007-09-08T19:39:00.001-05:00

Now that I had my engine all taken apart, it was time to take it to the engine shop, just to make sure all the clearances check out and to get it balanced. I've never been to an engine shop before so this was a great experience.

After doing some research on LS1 engine shops in Houston (thank you LS1tech.com!), I decided to go with LME (Late Model Engines). The have a great reputation so I felt comfortable with them.

It was cool seeing the parts I took there in actual engine shop. I took the crank, the mains, the main bearings, the heads with the valves and valvesprings, the block, and the pistons with their connecting rods, rod caps, and rod bearings:

Right away the engine shop dude wanted to check how tight the piston fit inside the cylinder, so he kept switching between the piston and the block, using one tool (a micrometer) to measure the piston, and another tool (don't know what this one is) to measure the cylinder width:

After awhile of going back and forth between the piston and the cylinder, he told me I was gonna have to get new pistons because the pistons don't fit tight enough in the cylinders. THIS IS EXACTLY WHY YOU TEAR DOWN A MOTOR WHEN YOU BUY ONE!! It's a good thing we didn't install this motor right after we bought it; the engine would have run like crap.

So the LS1 is now at the shop, and they're working on the block, crank, and other parts to make it all work beautifully when we put it back together, install it, and fire it up. I should get it back several weeks from now. :)

Autorama 2007 photos

2007-08-18T17:22:00.002-05:00

Took a ton of pics at the Autorama '07! Just about everyone from my Firebird club won an award. AWESOME turnout of cars. The Alloway '67 Mustang is one of my favorites (the blue and silver one).

You'll need the Flash player to view the gallery, and you can get it here if you can't view the gallery.

Here's the link: http://www.demonpixel.com/AUTOMOTIVE/Autorama2007/slideshow/

Enjoy!

Houston Auto Show 2006 photos

2005-12-04T17:16:00.002-06:00

Took a few pics at the Houston Auto Show. Really cool Lexus and Porsche stuff. You'll need the Flash player to view it, and you can get it here if you can't view the gallery.

Here's the link: http://www.demonpixel.com/AUTOMOTIVE/HoustonAutoShow2006/

Enjoy!

Autorama 2005 photos

2005-12-03T10:44:00.001-06:00

Hey guys, just wanted to let you know that I took quite a bit of photos at the Houston Autorama show and made a little gallery for it. You'll need the Flash 8 player to view it, and you can get it here if you can't view the gallery.

The gallery is here: http://www.demonpixel.com/AUTOMOTIVE/Autorama2005/

My favorite part of the show was that Spirit Industries built a car one foot away from me! Check out images 37-92 to see how they did it.

I know some of the images aren't the best quality. That's because I had the wrong batteries in the camera half the time I was at the show. Sorry about that! D'oh!

Carburetion - First Post, Barry Grant Demon Carburetor

2005-06-20T12:44:00.000-05:00

This is my first post. I started this blog because growing up I never really had any friends that were gearheads but always wanted to learn cars, and so if there's anyone out there like me who wanted to get into it but never could, this blog is for you. I'm a beginner still, so these posts will also be about what I go through when I do little automotive projects for my 1972 Formula Firebird.

I got this car because those kinds of cars are mostly mechanical with very simple electrical wiring....usually. I felt that since they were mechanical, as opposed to all the computerized cars these days, I would learn a lot more about the different systems of a car and just cars in general.

So with that said, I'd like to share my experience with the carburetor.

The carburetor is a mechanical device that basically delivers fuel to your engine. It sits on top the the intake manifold, which sits on top of the engine. Somewhere on the carburetor is this thing called a choke. As far as I can tell, the only thing that a choke does is help start the car. It's called a choke because it restricts airflow from one part of the carburetor so that the intake manifold vacuum can pull a richer mixture of fuel into the engine.

When I bought the Firebird, it started and ran fine for a while, but then one day, for some reason, it wouldn't start up right away. It took a long time before it started and I had to keep pressing the gas to keep the car on. As soon as I took my foot off of the accelerator, the car shut off. I took my car to a shop to adjust the choke or idle screws (the idle screws control how much air/fuel mixture you want the car to have at idle but they also aid in startup), and they dropped my carburetor. I towed it to another shop because I couldn't stand those shady ass mechanics, and they told me there was a crack on the inside of the carburetor. It was an Edelbrock Quadrajet carburetor.

So I had to get a new carburetor. I thought long and hard about it, between Edelbrock, Holley, Rochester, and Barry Grant's Demon carburetors. I researched on the web and went to Borders and read their carburetion books to help me make my decision. Since I'm new at this and I wanted something that would teach me the quickest and easiest way, I got the Demon carb. It was way more expensive than the other ones, but it seemed clearer to me, so I got it. The Edelbrock and the Holley looked more complicated that what I wanted to mess with, and the Rochester is 20 to 30 year old technology (they stopped making them in the 80s), and the Demon was much, much newer, and when you buy a new Demon carburetor, Barry Grant also sends you a video that shows you how to install it, how to start it, how to adjust the choke, the throttle valves, and the idle screws. Learning by video sounded excellent to me, so that was all the more reason to go with the Demon.

However, my friend Kelcey had a 68 Mustang a few years back and he told me that he ordered an Edelbrock carburetor online, and when he got it in the mail, he opened it up, he took off the old carb from his car, bolted on this new one, and connected two lines - the vacuum hose and the fuel line - and started up the car and drove away.

So I probably would have gone with the Edelbrock if I didn't take it to a shop and if I hadn't already ordered the Demon.

Since I knew nothing about installing carburetors, I wanted a shop to do it. I paid an insane amount of money, although to be fair, half of that was the carburetor itself, which was around $500. I could have done it myself though, I am SURE of that.

Basically, you just do what Kelcey did. You unbolt the old carburetor from the intake manifold...there should be four bolts holding it down...then you remove the vacuum line(s) (some cars might have more than one vacuum line), remove the fuel line, and remove the gasket that was sandwiched between the carb and the intake. Remove the accelerator link also. Then, clean off the little area where you removed the old gasket with a light sandpaper. On my car, I needed an adapter plate for my intake so the Demon carb could go on there, so you put that on the intake manifold, and then put the new gasket over that one. then you bolt on the Demon carb, but don't bolt it on as hard as you can because if you do, you'll break the gasket. Get on there snug, but not like you're going to break something. Hook up the vacuum line(s), and the fuel line. Then hook up the accelerator arm to the throttle linkage. The Demon carburetor video shows you how to do all of this. Press on the accelerator arm a few times to prime the carburetor, which means to put a little gasoline into the float boals of the carburetor, so that it can start easier.

Put the air cleaner back on.

Crank the engine, and it should start. If not, crank it again, and maybe a third time, and it should fire right up. Let the car sit for a bit so that it can warm up. After it's warmed up some, drive it around the block to see what it's like; you'll probably have to do a little tuning to make it idle the way you want to via the idle speed and idle mixture screws. Here's where the idle speed and idle mixture screws are on my Demon carburetor (click on the pic to view a larger version of the image):

Here's the other side:

Now for my car, with the spacer, the hood wouldn't shut. So what I had to do was get a different air cleaner. I got a Mr. Gasket drop base air cleaner. The hood cleared fine.

Next I'll talk about hooking up an aftermarket tachometer.

Tachometer - making it work

2005-06-19T00:02:00.000-05:00

When I bought the Firebird, all the gauges seemed to be working except the tachometer. For some reason, the backlight on the tach came on when I turned the headlights on, but the needle never moved when I was driving around. It's a Super Sun II Tachometer, and I chose to try and get it to work as my very first project on the Firebird that I could do all by myself (meaning, without the help of a shop).

I have this book on auto electrical systems, a really easy to read book, perfect for newbie beginners like me who didn't know anything about how electrical circuits worked.....the title is "Automotive Electrical Handbook" by Jim Horner, and I got it at Borders for about $20. On page 44, it had a diagram of a typical tach hookup, along with a few paragraphs about it. It said there are basically three wires. One is red, one is black, and one is green. The red one can connect to some place that provides power in your fuse box, the black one goes to ground, and the green one goes to the signal. The signal in this case is a place on the ignition coil that's labeled NEG. or DIST. or TACH. Luckily, the backlight came on mine already when I turned the lights on, so I thought that it just wasn't getting signal. I found the green wire in the back of my tach, along with a black wire, a red wire, and a white wire (the white wire goes to lighting but I'm not sure yet). Those were hooked up, I just needed to find where the green wire went.

I followed the green wire coming out of the tach through the firewall. It was shoved into a body of wires and took me quite a while to find the end of it. I found the end of it finally, and sure enough, it wasn't hooked up to anything. I got this kind of wire connector:

and crimped it down onto the wire, and connected it to my ignition coil. Now, the service manual I had for the car talked about a normal distributor, the stock one that came with those models. But mine had been upgraded to an HEI distributor so I was having a hell of a time finding my ignition coil. I asked a few guys from a chat room, and they told me the ignition coil was inside the distributor. There was a section in the Haynes book I have that confirmed this. So once I knew that, I just connected the wire with its connector to where it said TACH DIST. on my distributor.

I started the car and drove it around for a while, and sure enough, the tachometer needle went up as I accelerated. Success!!

How to remove the instrument panel

2005-06-18T01:21:00.000-05:00

I have been wondering for quite a while how to remove the instrument panel. Mine's woodgrain, and even though I love woodgrain, with the metallic blue paintjob that I have and black leather seats, I thought a black instrument panel would look a little nicer. Here's an example of a 1972 Firebird with a black instrument panel:

There were only a few steps involved for me to remove it. The Haynes that I have says to first remove the lower instrument panel. Well, when I got the car, that panel was already removed, so I was lucky (don't worry, the panel was in the trunk, so I can easily bolt it back on).

Next, locate the three screws at the top of the instrument panel, that are hanging upside down, and unscrew them. I used a Phillips head screwdriver for these screws:

Now would be a good time to mention a really helpful socket toolkit I bought. I got this one:

and even though it's probably for amateurs, it really helped me to remove the instrument panel quickly.

Ok, so after you remove those three screws at the top, look up underneath the steering column. You will see two screws to the left and right of the steering column, about 3 inches each from the steering column. I used a hexagonal socket on the socket wrench to unscrew these:

The last thing I had to do was to remove the cigarette lighter parts. You can easily just pull out the cigarette lighter:

and you'll be left with the outer rim of the cigarette lighter. Just twist this hard to the left:

And it will screw off the instrument panel:

Now all that's left to do is pull the panel off! Start with the left side, and put your fingers through the air vent. Then tug it toward you some:

Then you can put your fingers inside the instrument panel on the left, above the air conditioning controls:

and tug that toward you also. And that was all I had to do to remove the instrument panel!

How to change a taillight/backup (reverse) light

2005-06-17T00:30:00.000-05:00

Changing a taillight bulb or reverse/backup bulb is fairly simple. First, open your trunk and take a look at your taillight housing:

The green arrows indicate where the lights go inside the taillight housing. To take them out of the housing, just put your hand around the base of the light, called the socket (you can see that the sockets for the taillights/stoplights in the above image are black, and the reverse/backup light socket is white or cream colored), and give the socket a good twist to the left or the right, but usually to the left. It should pop out without any problems. Once you've done that, you take the bulb out of the socket. Use a small towel or in my case a raggedy t shirt, and put it around the bulb and give it a good twist to the left. You might have to wiggle it while you're twisting a little bit, but eventually, you should feel it kinda pop. When that happens you just pull the bulb straight out of the socket.

Once I did that I consulted my Firebird's owner's manual to see what kind of bulbs the taillights are:

You'll notice that it says 1157 next to where it says Stop Light and Taillight. So I went to the Autozone right around the corner from my place, and found the aisle where they sold the bulbs. I found ones that said 1157 on them:

I bought these, which cost me less than five bucks. Now when you put in the new bulbs, notice the two little notches on the bulb:

You'll need to match up those two notches with two slots inside the socket.

So then you just put the bulb in the socket with the notches on the bulb matched up with the slots in the socket, and give it a twist to the right to kind of lock it in the slot. Once that's done, all you have to do put the socket back up into its hole in the taillight housing, and twist it left or right to lock it in place. A note about the owner's manual though...sometimes it won't be entirely accurate. I found out that even though my owner's manual said that backup bulbs were 1157, when I took the bulb out of the socket, it was actually an 1156 bulb, NOT an 1157 bulb:

So what's the difference between 1156 and 1157 bulbs? Well, if you notice in the above image, the 1156 is a single filament bulb, so it has one contact at the base of the bulb. The 1157 bulbs are dual filament, and they have two contacts at the base.

Changing the Upper Radiator Hose

2005-06-16T15:52:00.000-05:00

In addition to my '72 Firebird, I also have a '93 Camaro v6. The upper radiator hose had gotten a leak in it, so I thought I'd post how I replaced it with a new one. Here's the story:

So I went to CompUSA yesterday and when I got out of the car, I heard a hissing sound. It sounded like a sprinkler was on but I didn't see one nearby so I thought that was kind of weird. I thought it might be coming from my car, so I popped the hood, and sure enough, there was a little mist spraying out of a rubber hose. This hose:

Well, there was an O'Reilly's auto parts store around the corner, where I picked up a few things, like black tape to wrap around the hole, a new upper radiator hose, some clamps, and other stuff, and I made it home with the tape wrapped around the leak hole and some new antifreeze in the car. When I got home I got out the stuff I knew I was going to need, which were the jack stands that I had gotten from O'Reilly's, a jack to jack up the car, the new radiator hose, my toolbox which contained pliers and flathead screwdrivers, clamps, a worn T-shirt that I use to wipe stuff with, and some paper towels from the restroom at the CompUSA I went. OH, let me say this before I forget to tell you guys: the last time I worked on the car I was bitten by mosquitos a dozen times, so before I went outside to work on the car THIS time, I put some of this stuff called Off! on me:

After spraying this stuff on, no more mosquito problem.

Here's an image of what I brought down with me to work on the car, including the jack stands and the jack. When I'm learning, I like to know what equipment/parts someone is using, what it looks like, and where they got it, so I thought I'd share in case you guys would like to know that also:

The first thing I did was jack up the car.

Now let's talk about this hose. If you noticed in the first image, the upper radiator hose goes underneath the Air Inlet Duct. I know it's called the air inlet duct because I have a Chilton's for this car and that's what it says it is in one of the diagrams. :)

So the first thing I had to do was to take off the air inlet duct in order to get to the upper radiator hose. On the driver's side, the air inlet duct connects to the air cleaner, and there's a screw right where the duct connects to the air cleaner, and I needed to unscrew this to begin taking off the air cleaner duct.

Now at the other end of the air inlet duct, the duct connects to the throttle body, and just like there was a screw at the air cleaner connection, there's a similar screw here also:

Now once these are unscrewed all the way, go back to the air cleaner and just give it a tug upward, and should pop right up. Mine did. This is kind of a bad pic, but here's an image of it anyway:

Now go back to the throttle body, pull the duct out from there also, and just kinda move this one big piece off to the side so you can have much better access to that radiator hose:

Now, just underneath and a little to the (passenger) side of the throttle body, the upper radiator hose has a screw that I needed to undo:

After I unscrewed it and pulled the hose off at that spot, I knew there was going to be fluid in there, and to catch the fluid, I just used a large freezer bag:

After that, what I had to do was the same thing but at the other end of the hose. This other end connected to the radiator on the driver's side of the car. The clamp that connected this hose to the radiator was a pain to undo. It was one of those clamps you had to squeeze together to undo. Here's a picture of the type of clamp:

And here's an animation (click the image to see it animate) of how to squeeze them together with a pair of pliers in order to slide the clamp down the hose so you can take it off where the hose is connected to:

So the clamp was facing toward the ground, so I had to get underneath the Camaro:

And when I got underneath there, looking up (cuz that's pretty much the only place I could look), this is what I saw:

See the clamp? In order to get to it I had to worm my arms around a little, and put the pliers up against it and squeeze as hard as I could:

After fighting with it for quite a while, I finally got it to slide down the hose some. After that I got up from underneath the car, and pulled the hose off the radiator. Again, I used a freezer bag to catch some of the fluid.

I then took the new radiator hose and just connected it appropriately, with the new clamps I also got from O'Reilly's (you saw them in the pic with the jacks and jack stand).

Next I just put the air cleaner (along with the air inlet duct) back into place, screwed that screw tightly, just like it was before, and screwed the screw by the throttle body.

I then lowered the car.

The last thing I wanted to do was put some antifreeze and distilled water into the car. After a leak, I thought it could use more. So I got these:

and here's where you put it:

It unscrews easily. Be careful when you're pouring these liquids though because it's right next to the battery.

After I poured the antifreeze/water, I turned the engine on and let it run for a little bit to see if there were any leaks. I didn't see any, so I took it around the block. It ran fine and the temperature seemed to stay low, so I thought I'd mark this one down as a success, cleaned EVERYTHING up (antifreeze is toxic) and start this blog post!

On a side note, I thought this was cool, so I'm sharing...while I was working underneath the car, a lady walked up to me and asked if I was a mechanic. I told her I was actually a mechanic wannabe, and she asked how much I would charge to change the battery on her daughter's convertible Porsche!! I told her I'd do it just for fun, but be on the lookout for my first Porsche post! Ha!